Harvard bans kegs and alcohol

Students planning on getting their last Four Loko buzz at tomorrow’s tailgate, be warned — Harvard Security will be watching.

Harvard administrators banned kegs and hard alcohol at tailgates again this year, which must start after 10 a.m. and end before noon. Harvard’s House Committees may serve beer and wine at the tailgates, but drinking games involving rapid consumption of alcohol are strictly prohibited, the administrators wrote in their October report called the “Rules of the Game,” which made very few alterations from the rules for Harvard-Yale 2008.

New to this year’s regulations: all those wishing to drink at the tailgate must wear a wristband indicating they are of legal drinking age. In their report, the administrators wrote that tailgating rules will be “strictly enforced.” When asked about the regulations, Cambridge Police spokesman Dan Riviello said in an e-mail that officers may consider following through on the enforcement.

“We would like to remind students to always use their best judgment and not engage in activities that are illegal,” Riviello said. “If caught drinking underage or drinking in public, these are violations of the law and could result on law enforcement action.”

Soldier Field sits in Boston, not Cambridge, and therefore the actual enforcement will be conducted by Harvard and Boston Police. Because Harvard Stadium falls under Boston jurisdiction, Harvard’s tailgates must comply with the city’s statutes, which are much stricter than those in New Haven, Marichal Gentry, dean of student affairs, said last October. Harvard Security did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Regardless of the regulations, 10 of 14 student interviewed by the News in October said they planned to drink despite the rules, and that the Harvard-Yale game is more about the drinking than the actual game itself.

Kegs have been banned on and off at Harvard-Yale tailgates in Cambridge for the past decade; citing several incidents in which students nearly drank themselves to death at the tailgate, the dean of Harvard College announced in 2000 that kegs would be banned in 2002. But the ban failed to prevent several intoxicated students from being sent to the hospital, so in 2004 the administration took control of alcohol distribution and began checking IDs. Students were prohibited from bringing alcohol into the tailgate altogether in 2006, but in 2008, the beer and wine began flowing once again.